After a five day hiatus without internet access, the travel blog is back.
Sunday, the 20th, I was completely unsure of what my plans were going to be. First I was going to the Grand Canyon, but then all the travel advisories said a blizzard was hitting the park that weekend dumping 20 inches of snow at the south rim visitor’s center. I then thought I’d bypass the Canyon and make it up to Zion and Bryce Canyon.
As I was checking out of my room Sunday morning, the hotel manger overheard my conversation with the receptionist about my plans and informed me that if the Canyon was getting hit badly with the snow, Zion and Bryce would get hit worse due to their higher elevation. He then advised me on some really beautiful trails through the red canyon recreation area located in one of the national forest that was on the way to flagstaff (the splitting off point between going to the Canyon and heading west to Vegas). Based on this new information, I headed off believing I was going to hike these red hills area. As I got to the visitor center, it just started to snow. As best as I can recollect, that was the first snow I’ve touched in 15 years. In fact, when I got out of my car at the visitor center and the snow just started fall, I told the ranger ice was coming down.
After getting a chuckle, the ranger told me that the road I needed to get to the red rock area was closed. He advised me to just head to the Canyon anyway, as the interstate was probably going to be the only road open anyway. So I did, and after a 3 hour delay on the interstate with numerous accidents, I made it to the Canyon. It was beautiful. I am sure it is wonderful in the summer, but with all the snow on the ground it really made the view even that much better. I took a plethora of pictures, and if I ever figure out how to post them I will. I ended up splurging that night and stayed at the El Tovar, Circa 1906. It was a really cool experience spending the night at the historic lodge right on the canyon rim. The main walkway around the canyon is the rim trail, and I had it pretty much to myself for miles and miles while the snow came down. To sum up my experience at the Grand Canyon- awesome.
The next day I again hiked around various parts of the rim trail, and drove down one of the roads that wind around the canyon. In fact, they had just opened up that road 20 minutes before I checked out of my hotel. After that, I headed to another magical wonder, Las Vegas.
I got into my hotel around 5 and was completely exhausted. I had gotten up at 6 AM that morning to catch the sunrise over the rim. So needless to say, I was exhausted. I managed to make my way to down to the Venetian to check it out. That’s all I did that night in vegas.
The next morning I got up again at 6 and extensively walked and checked out Casears Palace, the Mirage, TI, and Wynn. That afternoon I made my way south visiting the hotels along the way including Paris and MGM. The next day I finished off my hotel tour by visiting the Baliago, City Center, Monte Carlo, Luxor, and Mandalay Bay. I should probably go ahead and disappoint anyone who is still reading this blog by telling you that I never went out at night. I was so tired from walking each day that I pretty much was in bed by 8:30 pm every night. Sleeping was iffy with the noise that resonated from everyone coming back after partying at the 2-4 AM time slot. Regardless, I never did see the night life that put the Sin in Sin City. That only means that next time I visit Las Vegas, I have that experience awaiting me.
I gambled occasional the first 3 days, losing some and then winning it back. I entered my last day up 13 dollars when I decided to get some real gambling in. I had some good luck with roulette and tried my hand at that again. I lost $100 the first hour. So much for spending my last day gambling. I did make some of that back thanks to the Gators. For once the gators actually came through for me on a bet. In the end, my gambling losses were around $80. Maybe next time I need to stick with sports bets, as I was 2-0 and would have been 3-0 had I followed through and bet on the AL-AUB basketball game.
I left Vegas this morning not sure of whether I would cut my trip short and head back east to Bryce Canyon and Zion, followed by Albuquerque, then Austin TX, followed by home. I made up my mind sitting in my car that I would go to LA as planned. I did cut out San Diego even though many people have said nice things about the city. I figured I’d try to find a hotel in the Santa Monica area and use that as a jumping off point.
Traffic was thick through the LA area, but as I got close to Santa Monica, I-10 once again became my nemesis. An accident had shut down a couple of lanes effectively causing a standstill for 10 miles. Using the handy Garmin, I took side roads until I could get back onto the interstate. I got into the area and started looking for a hotel. The Holiday Inn wanted $230 a night before tax. I thought this isn’t going to work. As I headed back to my parked car along the main strip, I stopped in front of one of those mom and pop motels. I figured why not check it out. As I walked to the front desk area, some guy was walking out. I didn’t see anyone behind the desk and started asking the guy (who looked like he was gay) if he was staying there. The follow up question was going to be whether it was a decent place or not. Before I could get to the second question, however, a young lady came out to the desk area and so it probably looked like I was hitting on the gay guy. No problems though, as the girl at the desk was very nice (and attractive) and allowed me to look the room over before committing. As it turns out, her family has owned the motel for over 60 years.
It is only 2 blocks from the famed Pier. I walked down there earlier and it was really cool. The weather is cold, rainy and foggy. I sort of like that given that we don’t experience that very often in FL. Santa Monica is really neat. It reminds me of South Beach with mountains springing up along the shore line. There are so many young people here. I went to the aquarium at the base of the pier, and talked with some of the employees who are marine biology majors at UCLA.
I am not sure how well this blog entry flowed as I am trying to recap quite a bit. I’ll def try to do a better job in the future. Please excuse the absence and any flaws with this entry.
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